Evolving Yoga in Southern Maryland

Wildewood Shopping Center - California, MD

LifeForce Yoga®

LifeForce Yoga® is a specific type of yoga which is designed to meet and manage mood. Its tools include simple but profound combinations of meditation, movement and breath work to ease the symptoms of depression and anxiety. You will become enabled to observe your breath as it moves through your body, awakening your prana, or life-force. You will experience your body as a “safe container” in which you may connect with anything you feel on any level of your being, with equanimity and compassion.

What to expect with private LifeForce Yoga Sessions:

Confidentiality

Choice of material for suitable for your emotional and energetic needs, and for your physical ability

A compassionate presence to support your emotional state

Suggestions for the application of yoga to suit your lifestyle

A greater sense of peace and calm upon completing a session

Plan to set aside 90 minutes for your initial session. Subsequent sessions typically last for 75 minutes. The first few minutes of each session will be spent assessing your current mood. From there, typically expect a sequence pranayama (specialized breath work), and bhavana (visualization) to help create a sankalpa, or intention for yourself. This intention can be specific for your session, or more generalized for your day, week, and so on. You will move into and out of asana (postures) with your intention, and spend time between each asana or sequence of asanas to watch and allow feeling to arise within you. You also will take part in guided meditation, which may include the use of mudra (hand gestures) and chanting. The chants you learn will mostly consist of sounds which correspond to different energy centers in the body and affect mood.

Because emotional work with the body can be very tiring, each session concludes with yoga nidra, or yogic sleep. Unlike the brief savasana you may experience during a typical yoga class, yoga nidra is a guided meditation that employs a variety of techniques. You will begin by quieting your conscious mind, and then gradually move deeper into a state of meditation in which the brain waves slow down and you relax completely in mind, body, and emotion. According to Rod Stryker, a well-renowned yoga teacher in Los Angeles, “yoga nidra uniquely unwinds the nervous system…which is the foundation of the body’s well-being.” Awakening from yoga nidra, most practitioners feel relaxed and rejuvenated.

A series of three to four sessions, spaced one to two weeks apart, is ideal. The time in between sessions gives you the space to explore the techniques you have acquired, and to decide which things work best for you. Each session will build upon the last. Upon finishing your initial series of sessions, you will have a complete practice. If you choose to return for more sessions, you are welcome. The idea is to empower you to establish and find personal strength in your own practice, using your wellness practitioner as a resource whenever you would like that support.

You can find more information here. Please contact Karen directly at karen@bluelotusyogafordepression.com or 240-237-9023 to schedule an appointment.